The Festival That Keeps On Giving: My Second Year At All Things Go

Written by Meg Clemmensen

Graphic by Rebekah Witt

Photos courtesy of Alive Coverage

   To a live music enthusiast who has seen almost 150 concerts to date, nothing is quite as exciting as packing your bags and hitting the road for a trip to a music festival—especially when said festival lineup includes several musicians who have been on your concert bucket list for years, alongside others you may have seen before but always love to see again (and again).

     2023 was my second year attending All Things Go music festival, and it’s only becoming more evident with each passing year that the curators of this event are 100% committed to making each festival better than ever. 2022’s flashy lineup of Lorde, Bleachers, Mitski, Hippo Campus, and more is what drew me to leave home in good ol’ Canada and drive 8 hours south into America to see the one-day concert. And when I figured that lineup couldn’t get much dreamier, All Things Go one-upped themselves with an extended, two-day weekend jam-packed with indie, pop, and alternative acts for 2023.

     Both last year and this year alike, I find the first couple hours of the festival a great opportunity to learn some new music. Both of the venue’s two stages are generally booked back-to-back with smaller, growing artists, whom I’m admittedly unfamiliar with. On day one, I decided to stick to the Pavilion stage for the first couple of hours, catching the sets of Jensen McRae, Last Dinosaurs, and about half of RAYE. The first of those was a solo acoustic pop act, the second an Australian indie-rock outfit, and the final a theatrical and energetic pop performance; I got a great variety of music to warm up my day. As much as I was enjoying watching RAYE’s set, I dipped out of the pavilion with about 10 minutes to spare before The Wombats took the stage on the other side of the venue - a band I’ve been casually listening to since I was in middle school. The last song I got to see from RAYE, however, before wandering to my next destination, was a heartwarming tribute to the sexual assault she experienced when she was young. While the song was a tearjerker for sure, she sang with hope, from a place where she’d mostly healed and wanted to pass on the healing energy to anyone else struggling who needed it. If I wasn’t fond of her performance before this, that last song I watched her play certainly made me a fan. Seeing someone sing from such a raw and emotional place about an issue so severe is always admirable.

     As previously mentioned, I’m best described as a casual listener of The Wombats. This being said, I was extremely in awe of their setlist! So many recognizable tunes jam-packed their 45 minutes of stage time. I was thrilled that tracks such as “Lemon To A Knife Fight” made the cut, seeing as Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life was one of my favorite albums of 2018. And of course, classics like “Greek Tragedy” and “Let’s Dance To Joy Division” were heard before the band left the stage. Albeit far back in the crowd with a limited view, I could tell the group was giving it their all and putting on a fun-filled performance, going so far as to even bring out people dressed in giant wombat suits to dance around on stage and get everyone hyped up! At the beginning of the set, it was pretty easy to see who was in the crowd specifically for the band and who was just passing by. But by the end, everyone was dancing along just as enthusiastically as the band themselves.

     I made my way back to the pavilion mid-Suki Waterhouse’s set. I’ve gotta say, one of my favorite things about this festival’s lineup is that there’s never a dull moment. More often than not, two acts are occurring at an overlapping time with one another on opposite sides of the venue, so leaving the Chrysalis stage pretty much guaranteed me an ongoing show in the pavilion. While I’m not familiar with Waterhouse’s music, her mellow pop vibe was extremely enjoyable, with a nod to the part in her set where she surprised everyone by covering Taylor Swift’s “Lover.” Leave it to a crowd full of queer indie kids to scream their lungs out to any Taylor Swift song they’re presented with. This sure wasn’t an exception as the crowd quickly erupted into cheers, and the singer’s melodic voice couldn’t have more perfectly fit the stripped-down, intimate feel of “Lover” as a song. 

     I was seated, I was ready. The next act to take the stage was Tegan & Sara — another band I grew up listening to casually. As a Canadian, this Calgary duo of identical twins has been all over my local radio stations for years. Starting in the 90s, they’re still possibly more relevant than ever today, with some of their highest charting hits released in the last decade. They paved the way and became the blueprint for many other pop-rock acts, especially within the Canadian music scene. So seeing a band so iconic after years of familiarity was an experience I was very excited for. Thankfully, they didn’t let me down. I’ve truly never seen any videos of them performing; I had no idea what to expect from the set. I was surprised to see they had about 4 on-tour band members to assist with bringing the instrumentation in the songs to life, seeing as the two powerhouse women can only do so much. As a result, the energy was high, and the crowd was jumping along. Mostly, everyone knew the set finale, “Closer,” which came as a bit of a surprise to me since I didn’t realize that was also a hit outside of Canada. The more you know! It was nice to see the whole pavilion getting hyped up once they realized a famous song they knew was by the band they were watching. I’m sure a lot more people left the venue that night as Tegan & Sara fans than those who came in that morning.

     Holding down the fort in the pavilion, I remained seated for the next act, one of the ones I was most excited to see that day. I’ve followed FLETCHER since around the time that I founded KCM and received a press release for you ruined new york city for me. She’s only been to Toronto a couple of times since then, and each time I’ve missed out, so this was my excuse to finally see the queer icon sing and dance her heart out. FLETCHER, having recently been diagnosed with Lyme disease and therefore facing limitations in her performance abilities, still put on a high-energy set. As a fan, the only way you could really tell she was struggling by noticing her sticking out the microphone to the audience more often than she typically would. But without picking up on that, no one really would have been able to see the difficulties this disease plays in her everyday life if she didn’t dedicate a segment of her set to sharing her hardships with the crowd. Opening up with “Guess We Lied…,” a high-energy fan-favorite track from the singer’s latest album, that follows up on her 2019 single “If You’re Gonna Lie,” the crowd was hyped up in no time. This was the first artist of the day where it appeared that the majority of the audience was familiar with FLETCHER’s music, as opposed to just stopping by and checking it out. Knowing her fanbase well, she jam-packed her 14-song setlist with a wide selection of songs from her latest body of work, Girl Of My Dreams, older singles and deep cuts, and covers of two femme anthems, Britney Spears’ “If U Seek Amy” and SZA’s “Kill Bill.” Acknowledging that it was her last show of the year before taking a touring break to focus on her health, FLETCHER was bouncing up and down, seemingly having the time of her life on stage and giving fans her all before no new content gets released for some time. Finally seeing her live was such a fun experience, and I’m so glad that her set gathered such a large audience of fans, as she deserves.

     Getting into the final segment of the night, I made my way to the Chrysalis stage for the last time that day. Lizzy McAlpine was next on my to-watch list for day one, and though I wasn’t able to get all that close to the stage for her set due to her starting at basically the same time FLETCHER finished in the pavilion, it’s difficult to find a truly bad spot at Chrysalis. The field at which the stage is set up is wide open, with lots of room and lots of big screens for those further back. I propped myself up against a tree near the sound booth and had an unobstructed view of the stage, even with the struggle of only being 5’2” in a crowd of people mostly taller than me. I’d previously researched McAlpine’s setlist so I knew what to expect; I’m a huge fan of five seconds flat, but the only song I really know outside of that album is “Over-the-Ocean Call (Andrew).” She played a ton of my favorites, including the aforementioned older track, but also new ones like “an ego thing,” “erase me,” and the TikTok viral “ceilings,” but she also surprised fans with some setlist changes from her usual festival-length set. She added yet another track from before her music got popular online — and teased fans by playing a new song entitled “Movie Star” for the first time. McAlpine is just as talented, graceful, beautiful, and majestic in person as she is behind a screen. Seeing some of my favorite songs from my heavy rotation this year come to life on stage was an unforgettable experience, and I sincerely hope to see her headline sometime soon. She is so phenomenal at what she does; it’s almost impossible to notice a difference between her voice live and her recorded singing.

     My second to last set of the day was none other than the Canadian queen herself, Carly Rae Jepsen. This was the only artist whose set I caught all weekend that I’d seen live previously, so I knew what I was in for, and that it was going to be one hell of a show. At this point, I was starting to feel sore, and tired, but I absolutely was not giving up and letting myself unwind yet, I still had two more sets to give my all to. As Jepsen took the stage with upbeat Dedicated Side B track “Let’s Sort The Whole Thing Out,” I was reminded why I do this, why I love live music so much, and why it was worth driving so far to see so many hour-to-hour-and-a-half long sets. The energy and atmosphere in the room when someone’s favorite artist takes the stage is unmatchable to anything I’ve experienced before. Seeing a room erupt in cheers and feeling the anxious excitement as you wait to see what befalls you is just such a surreal feeling. When Jepsen arrived onstage, I got the adrenaline boost I needed to make it through the rest of the twelve-hour day. Though I’ve seen her bubblegum pop music brought to life through the stage twice before, something was different this time. It was my first time seeing her live since The Loveliest Time, her b-side album for The Loneliest Time, which is arguably her best album since E•mo•tion. For the first time, I got to see new favorites like “Kollage” and “Shy Boy” live. It was also my first time seeing Carly Rae Jepsen in America, where she gets significantly less radio play and recognition than she does back home. I feel like a lot of the audience was only familiar with viral hits such as “Call Me Maybe,” but there was also a huge number of people singing and dancing along to every last deep cut and new release alike. Seeing Jepsen put on a shimmery show is always a treat; no one performs or sounds quite like her. But again, one of my favorite parts of this segment of the festival was seeing an American crowd vibe along with a notably Canadian act, which is much less commonly known over the border. My Ontarian heart is so happy to see these artists I grew up with being acknowledged over international grounds with the same appreciation as radio stations being allotted a certain percentage of air time to all-Canadian music treats them.

     I skipped Mt. Joy’s set to finally be able to wait in line to get some food in me, rebuilding my energy for the final show of the night. 2023’s night one headliner was the one and only rising indie legend, Maggie Rogers. Having released her second official full-length last year, she had a wide array of tracks to choose from in her setlist. I’m impartial to her debut, Heard It In A Past Life, so I was thrilled when a large number of songs from this record were played as well as the biggest hits from Surrender. Being from Maryland, where the festival took place, she had a huge audience of longtime fans who have supported her since the days she was just a local newcomer. Rogers was nearly in tears multiple times during her performance, sharing that this venue, Merriweather Post Pavilion, was where she attended her first concert (Black Eyed Peas) and that she’d dreamed of playing there since she was young. She pushed through the emotion to put on what had to be one of her best shows to date. Showstoppers like “That’s Where I Am” left audiences screaming along with every last word, and unreleased tracks such as “So Sick Of Dreaming” saw plenty of phones up, recording to be able to enjoy the song later, until it’s officially out. “Different Kind Of World” closed out the night, leaving attendees on a mellow, yet hopeful note as they head home — some to finalize their 2023 All Things Go experience, and some to return tomorrow for more music.

     My main thought while driving my friend and I back to her place in DC that night was how lucky I am to have attended and be attending this festival. I mean, myself and everyone else at All Things Go certainly knew we were viewing an iconic lineup. But it started to sink in more when almost every single artist I watched that day was gushing about how many amazing artists were playing, and how they were side-stage watching their favorites all day. The festival also has an incredibly welcoming atmosphere. The majority of the artists playing were women and/or queer, and it brought out such a diverse and accepting crowd. A couple of queer artists joked around knowingly on stage, calling the festival things like ‘All Things Gay’ or ‘Gaychella.’ Being in an environment where most people around are part of the LGBTQ+ community, and therefore open conversations and inside jokes like those can occur, and land properly, is kind of surreal. It’s like finding your own little niche corner of people. It leaves something to be yearned for at plenty of other music events, where artists and showgoers alike are maybe a little less aware of minority issues. At All Things Go, this isn’t the case, everyone is waiting to accept you with open arms. Experiencing that firsthand was fortunate indeed.

     When I woke up on October 1st, I was unbelievably energetic for someone who had been on my feet all day beforehand. I got ready in no time and headed back into Maryland, the venue having gathered a much larger queue at the same time in advance for day two. Headliners being Lana Del Rey, boygenius, and MUNA, I suppose fans of those artists are pretty intense and hardcore when it comes to locking down the best spots in the venue. I started my day the opposite way this time. Instead of spending my morning at the pavilion, I spent it over at Chrysalis, setting up my little spot in the shade with some snacks. I headed straight there after doors opened and remained seated for Juliana Madrid, Vundabar, and Meet Me @ The Altar. I’d heard of 2/3 of the acts, having friends who listen to them and have hyped them both up. Vundabar had never crossed my radar, but upon searching for their social media, I discovered that they have a decent-sized following, including bigger stars such as Mitski and Mother Mother, giving them a boost of credibility in the scene. Juliana Madrid was probably my favorite set I caught on Sunday morning. The solo singer blended indie and pop music elements to create a sound similar to the likes of Gracie Abrams or Clairo. She proclaimed that it was her largest show to date and a huge honor to play at such an event, and she even brought along her parents who could be seen supportively cheering her on and singing every word from the VIP section. Madrid is definitely a rising star who needs to be on your radar if that type of music is your vibe! Vundabar performed next, whose indie rock sound picked up the pace and got crowds dancing along. It was a great gateway into what came next because Meet Me @ The Altar’s set was highly energetic and empowering. This all-girl band has been on the rise since even before opening for artists as globally massive as 5 Seconds Of Summer. Representing queer people, women, and people of color, this band packs a punch into their performance, redefining the true meaning of punk. Also dedicating a segment of their set to covering iconic female-led songs that inspired the trio in their own songwriting process, they made sure absolutely everyone watching was able to sing along to at least a portion of their set.

     After Meet Me @ The Altar, I wandered down to the other side of the venue. Refusing to make the same mistake as I’d made the night before, in which I tried to buy food for dinner but eventually ended up having to wait in an hour-long lineup, I grabbed lunch and found a seat in the pavilion, catching just a small portion of Leith Ross’ performance as I sat. Though I only saw a few songs, one of them being interrupted by a medical emergency in the crowd, their mellow sound made a lovely soundtrack to gobble up my festival food to. Coming up next was Ethel Cain, a one-of-a-kind ethereal indie singer who, since the release of her 2022 record Preacher’s Daughter, has risen to a wider scale of fame than she’s ever experienced. As yet another iconic queer musician performing at All Things Go, this singer brings to life vulnerable tracks tackling themes such as coming-of-age, generational trauma, growing up in a Christian household, and sexuality. Once again, I’m more of a casual listener to Cain’s music, so I’d looked up the setlist in advance to know what I should expect. I was excited to see my personal favorite, “Gibson Girl,” was included! Imagine my disappointment when she decided to surprisingly switch up her usual set and this song was never played. What a devastating event; I suppose that just means I’ll have to go see her live again… not complaining whatsoever. Though that one track was absent, I still got a chance to see her perform other hits, like her most streamed song of all time, “American Teenager!” Her voice and musical style are so unique and incomparable to much of anything I’ve heard before, and it was easy to see that pouring her heart out and being vulnerable in her songs comes naturally to her, as I watched her do exactly that.

     I slipped away to Chrysalis stage for the last time all weekend immediately following her finale. Canadian indie-rockers Alvvays were taking the stage, and knowing me and my love for supporting Canadian artists, especially when they’re rocking the lineup at an American festival, there was no way I was missing that. I left my seat in the pavilion after the couple next to me assured me they’d keep my spot saved and I promised I’d be back within 30-45 minutes. Tech issues unfortunately caused a delay in the band’s start time, and as a result, the setlist was shorter than anticipated. While it mostly consisted of songs from the band’s most recent release, Blue Rev, they made sure to include older fan-favorites, such as “Archie, Marry Me.” The female-led group packed as much music as possible into the time they were given, only stopping to talk a few times as a result of the late start. I loved seeing how jam-packed the field was with festival goers who had stopped to watch the band’s performance; Canadian representation all the way!

     Here’s where the night got a little more interesting than anticipated. Making my way back to the pavilion as Arlo Parks started, I retraced my steps to find the spot I’d left. However, when I found it, the couple who said they’d save my spot was nowhere to be found, and three new people were in the seats I’d left. Frantically searching the pavilion that filled up early in the morning, I was certain somewhere there would be an odd spot that just a solo person could fit into — but to no avail. As a result, I missed out on properly watching most of Parks’ set, which was a bit of a bummer. I’ve admittedly never listened to the artist before, but I’ve heard talk of their talent for quite some time, and I was excited for the live performance to be my introduction to her musical scope. From what I caught, she seemed phenomenally talented with a stage persona like no other! But alas, since so many more pavilion tickets were sold than seats available, I spent most of the set just trying to find somewhere to set up that I could still see.

     When it came time for boygenius’ set, I’d managed to prop myself up standing by the back barricade that separates the pavilion and the lawn, with a fairly clear view to the stage and no security members telling me I had to relocate. Though the trio was just a few tiny specks onstage compared to the view I’d had earlier and the day before, I could still see (which is always an accomplishment as a 5’2” person at a concert), and I got to appreciate the visuals and performance art on a wider scale. I’ve loved all three members of boygenius individually for a few years now, and I got hooked on their group work when the record released, more so than their initial EP. I feel like they’ve grown into their style since first working together, and found the formula to accentuate in each song, the individual elements each member brings to the musical board. Upbeat tracks like “Not Strong Enough” and “$20” charted on radio this year, and deeper cuts like “Cool About It” and “Letter To An Old Poet” quickly became fan-favorites. The band, consisting of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus, are a team of powerhouses both on and off the stage. Opening the show with a capella song “Without You Without Them” and promptly after, bursting into a full-band song, they both showed their versatility and made their audience shift moods in the blink of an eye. The show continued with the group playing almost all of their discography, since they only have a limited amount of music made together. I knew the three women were incredibly talented, having seen videos of Baker and Bridgers performing, and having actually seen Dacus for the first time at 2022’s All Things Go. When they come together, it’s like a new energy is unveiled; they all bring out the best in each other. It’s so obvious to see they love each other, they get along together on the road, playing live is like second nature, and they’re constantly lifting each other up. That kind of supportiveness is so lovely to see. Boygenius blew up this year, and for good reason. Their songs tell stories personal and dear to the heart. Their performances are a showcase of these emotions. The visuals, the vocals, the instrumentation — they all make it clear to see that the musicians are singing from a vulnerable place. The beautifully prepared graphics behind the band’s place on stage highlights and reaps the mood which listeners are meant to be feeling in the moment. These three are so phenomenal at their craft, and I wholeheartedly look forward to seeing them again, whether as their solo acts or as a band. They are certainly ones to watch as they continue to rise.

     MUNA was about to start on the Chrysalis stage, but I had to make a choice, and quick. I could go see MUNA, but then I would be too far back to see much of anything during Lana Del Rey’s set. Or, I could try to make my way down and into the pit for the best view of the weekend during Lana Del Rey’s set. As much as it pained me to miss MUNA, I opted for the latter. Del Rey has been such a special artist to me for several years now, with Norman Fucking Rockwell! in particular constantly being one of the albums dominating my listening habits, no matter what mood I’m in. As had already been made clear to me by this point, nothing was going to be easy for me, I was going to have to meticulously scheme to make this work. I squeezed my way down into a rapidly forming cluster of fans with the same idea as me. Slowly, the pit began to empty from fans leaving boygenius’ set to go see MUNA. And one by one, the different pit entry points began opening and letting small streams of fans in. Of course, that is each entrance besides the one I decided to stand near. Apparently, some miscommunication occurred, which resulted in the pit filling up without the security guard standing by my cluster even allowing a single person in. Something in my gut was telling me not to give up even though most people around me were. And surely enough, once the miscommunication was sorted, the few of us who had waited patiently the longest and were at the front of the crowd were allowed to squeeze into any empty spaces in the pit. I was in!

     Luckily, I didn’t completely miss MUNA, since I did get to watch their set from the screens in the pavilion, albeit not physically out on the field to support them. Shortly after their performance faded away, the All Things Go recap trailer flooded the speakers. This is something I’ve become all-too familiar with, as each day of the festival both this year and last year, in the 15-minute gap between the second to last and the final act of the day, it will play. Blaring the festival’s theme song, the gorgeous and beloved “Chicago” by Sufjan Stevens, I was hit with an overwhelming feeling of pre-reminiscence. I used to be able to hear that song and feel just the emotions packed into the context of the song, but now it reminds me of my trips that have become an annual occurrence, making it pretty impossible to not shed a tear when it comes on my playlist. As concertgoers cheered for the video and the fun times they’d had over their weekend in Maryland, the wait for Lana Del Rey became more intense. Without much of any surprise, the singer was late to take the stage. Not to excuse her actions, but that does happen fairly often at her shows. We love a queen who’s horrible at time management, though sometimes we do wish she’d get a little better so we her set doesn’t get shortened!

     Once she hit the stage, everyone in the pit around me completely lost their chill. It was a moment so many of us had been waiting so long for. I’m certain there were plenty of other first-timers near me, seeing as she doesn’t tour too frequently, and personally, I was so excited to see what she had in store as the 2023 festival headliner. The first portion of her set was jam-packed with shortened performances of some of her hits. For example, she performed the beloved track “A&W,” but she skipped over the slower first half of the song and only played the more danceable second half. Her dancers on stage used the most beautiful choreography to bring Del Rey’s songs to life and make them look the way listening to them feels. She had a gorgeous and talented pack of women who not only supported her, but also introduced, carried, and vocalized during plenty of the songs. The use of visualization here emphasizes the point that one person can only do so much, but when one person’s art is so touching and delicate, there’s no limit on how many more people can be used to properly do it justice. Showstoppers like “Pretty When You Cry” and “Cherry” showed off Del Rey’s vocal and performance abilities, as she delivers tearjerker vocals and continues swaying and slaying all the while. The real surprise of the set was in the second half, when none other than Jack Antonoff was brought to the stage. This powerhouse producer for artists such as Lana Del Rey herself, Taylor Swift, Lorde, St. Vincent, etc, and a performer of his own, currently fronting the band Bleachers, is well-loved by indie music fans globally. I, myself, am such a huge fan and admirer of his. When the duo broke it down acoustically to perform “Margaret” and “Venice Bitch,” it was such a touching moment, especially because the former is written about Antonoff and his wife. After Antonoff took his final bow, Del Rey began acknowledging the time restraints and taking requests from the audience. We saw “Video Games” performed while the singer rocked back and forth on a floral-coated swing, and we saw “Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd” with a full choir outro. The most jaw-dropping part of the set was saved for the finale, however. Pouring her heart into a slower deep cut, she lays down on the floor, and her grand exit from the stage is her being pulled away by her gown and veil as she sings the end of the song, leaving the audience wondering if they really saw right.

     And just like that, the festival weekend was over. It was back home and to real life the following day. But wow, what a safe, inclusive, enjoyable, and fun-filled space that All Things Go offers indie/pop/rock music fans for one weekend a year. That first October weekend, you can guarantee Columbia, MD is where it’s at. There’s not much I’d make the 8 hour drive for, but this is one of those things you just can’t miss if you can help it. I’m forever grateful to the festival creators who have fostered a very specifically curated environment different from other festivals. There’s finally something for the weird kids, the queer kids, the indie kids, the edgy kids. I’m so lucky to have been there and experienced it firsthand, not just this year but in 2022 as well. If I were you, reader, I’d mark this event on your radar. While at first I jokingly mentioned it being a yearly trip for me, chances are that’s what it will become.